Our financial year runs
from 1 April to 31 March
so as a bonus to any new
members an application
submitted from now on
will be valid until 31
March 2011. Please
encourage any friends,
relatives, neighbours,
acquaintances or
colleagues to join
Friends of Rietvlei.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Evening Talk – Marion and Gough
Islands.

Our first evening talk for the year
will be on

Thursday 11 February 2010 at the
Rietvlei Education Centre at 7.30
for 8.00pm

Henk Louw, who is the Site
Conservation Officer for the Diep
River Corridor, spent two years on
islands in the southern oceans. He
will share his experiences on Marion
and Gough Islands with us.

All members and their friends are
welcome. For queries please phone
Pauline on 083 255 2537.

Beach Walk and Clean-up

We are planning a Beach Walk and
Clean-Up on the coast of the
Rietvlei Wetland Reserve on
Sunday 14 March. The idea is to
walk from Dolphin Beach south
towards Sunset Beach area. We will
meet at the Dolphin Beach parking
area at 3pm; we will supply black
bags to the walkers so that we can
do a bit of a beach clean-up while
walking.

Friends of Rietvlei AGM

Please diarize this date – our AGM
will be held on Thursday 13 May
2010. More details to come.

DIEP RIVER ESTUARY MANAGEMENT PLAN

Several projects implementing the Diep River Estuary
Management Plan have been initiated:

1.

A topographic survey of the estuary and Rietvlei is
being done at present, comparing this to similar
work done during the 1990’s will enable us to see if
the bottom profiles of the estuary and the ground
levels in the central pans of Rietvlei has changed.

2.

A second project is monitoring the daily effluent
flows from Potsdam WWTW and comparing this with
salinity levels in the estuary – the purpose is to
see whether salinity levels can be manipulated by
managing effluent flows.

3.

The City is also busy with a major study of the
water quality and quantity from all the stormwater
discharges along the eastern shore of the Diep River
from the N7 bridge down to Zoarvlei. This study will
identify specific sources of pollution and enable
the City to take steps to prevent polluted
stormwater from flowing into the Diep River.

4.

Finally the Provincial Administration has appointed
consultants to study the levels of heavy metals in
the Diep River estuary and Rietvlei – this study has
started and should be completed by the end of
February. Again this will indicate levels of
pollution and possible sources of pollution.

DIEP RIVER PROJECT

You all know that Henk Louw is working in the Diep
River corridor, his appointment is funded by the
Friends of Rietvlei with funds originally supplied
by the City and TMF. However, the City has now also
managed to get a permanent Site Officer post for the
Diep River, and a conservator from Table Mountain
National Park, has been appointed to this position
and will start work in mid February.

A year ago we were concerned that we may have
difficulties getting one person to work in the Diep
River corridor, and now we suddenly have two. An
encouraging step forward.

Proposals for development of the Gold Circle stable
properties at Milnerton Racecourse.

A Draft Basic Assessment Report on a proposed
mixed-use development at the Gold Circle stables on
Koeberg Road was published in November, inviting
comments by 25 January. The Friends submitted
comments on this report as the proposed development
is adjacent to the very important Milnerton
Racecourse Conservation Area in Royal Ascot – you
may remember that we had a walk there in November
2008.

The report itself has serious omissions and our main
recommendation was that these omissions be rectified
and a Revised Draft Basic Assessment Report be
published for comment. Our concerns about the
proposal include the matter of security along the
eastern boundary of the conservation area; the
inadequate size of a proposed corridor between the
northern and southern portions of the conservation
area; and the effect of stormwater runoff from the
proposed development into the conservation area and
on the quality of the groundwater – there are
several small ephemeral pans (temporary pans) in the
conservation area during the winter months which
support a variety of interesting fauna and flora
which will be negatively affected if the groundwater
quality deteriorates.

Expansion and Upgrading of Wastewater Treatment
Infrastructure in the Blaauwberg Area.

The process surrounding this proposal is still
ongoing; Province is still studying the
Environmental Impact Report, and the Blaauwberg
Subcouncil is still debating the issue. At this
stage we have no further news.

People In and Around our
Rietvlei……

Leonard (Wally) Wolhuter
retired as Rietvlei Wetland
Reserve Water Ranger for the
City of Cape Town, at the end of
January 2010. He served the
public and visitors to Rietvlei,
as an employee of the
municipality, but he was also a
seasoned member of both the
Milnerton Aquatic Club and the
Friends of Rietvlei. Wally
started working at Rietvlei for
the then Milnerton Municipality
when the municipality took over
the gate management from
Milnerton Aquatic Club (1980’s).
He has seen the conservation
efforts at Rietvlei change from
privately owned land to
publically owned land managed as
an important nature reserve.
Wally’s immense background
information, commitment and
enthusiasm will be missed as an
official employee of the reserve
but his connections through
Milnerton Aquatic Club and
Friends of Rietvlei will ensure
that he is still a roleplayer at
the vlei. Wally’s 65th birthday
on 25 January was the party
occasion for fond farewell and
birthday wishes from colleagues
and friends.

Whilst we say fare well to Wally
we must also welcome Kyle
Kelly to the Rietvlei
Wetland Reserve as he steps into
the post of Assistant
Conservation Officer. Kyle comes
from the Marine Section of Table
Mountain National Park. Please
look out for him at the gate to
the recreational area of Rievlei
and welcome him.

Conette Koorts, our very
active Environmental Education
intern at Rietvlei, is leaving
us as her contract expires at
the end of February. She
recently informed us that she
has been appointed as
Interpretive Officer at the West
Coast National Park starting in
March. We sincerely thank
Conette for the excellent work
she has done at Rietvlei over
the last year, and we wish her
well in her new career. We trust
that you will all continue to
support the recycling iniative
that Conette started.

We also welcome two new nature
conservation students to
Rietvlei – they are doing their
third experiential year at
Rietvlei Wetland Reserve. The
two are John Lucas and
Leigh Wootton. Members will
meet them later in the year when
they do the presentation about
their projects.

The committee has decided to get
quotes for the installation of a
ramp into the Education Centre.
The present steps at the
entrance are not wheel
chair-friendly and we would like
to make the centre accessible to
those in wheel chairs. Do we
have any architects or engineers
out there who would be able draw
up a design and specifications
for us? If so please contact
John Herring on 0832441044.

Energy Efficiency or Energy
Reduction

Energy efficiency has been
described as a renewable energy
resource that is perfectly
cheap, abundant and immediately
available. It can reduce carbon
emissions and reduce our
dependence on imported energy
resources. It does not pollute,
and it does not depend on the
weather like solar and wind
power. There are several ways of
improving energy efficiency in
your home – here is another tip:

Do not leave
televisions,
chargers,
computers,
etc on
standby.
When not in
use, turn
them off
physically
or switch
off at the
wall switch.
Appliances
on standby
still use a
significant
amount of
electricity.

When using
your
computer,
switch off
the monitor
when you are
away from
the computer
for a while.
The monitor
uses more
electricity
than the
processor
and fan.
People
sometimes
think that a
screensaver
saves you
electricity,
but this is
not so, you
need to
switch the
monitor off
with the
on/off
switch.

Thanks go to Chevron Refinery for
sponsoring envelopes for the posted newsletter.